North America to Europe crossing

[Marcool]

Hello everybody at ybw!

I may (or may not...) be a little bit of a stranger among you here, as I imagine most of the people posting on the forum are either boat owners or plan to be in the near future.

I myself am in neither category, I am a simple sea-man, as I have been travelling around for a while by boat-hiking as they say.

My question is this : I am currently in Canada, and I was wondering where the best harbour would be to find a boat heading over to Europe. I have considered the following options :
Halifax, which is simply the nearest large harbour to where I am
Some place in the US north atlantic (maybe NY or ...)
Further south, like Florida or Caribean, from where I know boats head to europe.

The last option obviously seems the "easiest" one but it has two downsides to me : firstly I just came from there and don't particularly want to head another 3000 miles south, and secondly it just makes me sick to think that I'd have to drive down past the dolldrums and then have to sail back up through them again!!!

Does anybody have any input on this? Maybe one of you has already sailed form North America over to Europe and would have some advice for me, or can somebody just name the largest sailing boat harbours in north america for me?

Any help will be greatly apreciated!
Regards,
Mark.

 

[snowleopard]

Get yourself a copy of this.

 

[prv]

Possibly also see this thread.

Pete

 

[TQA]

St Maarten [1st choice ] or Antigua

 

[KellysEye]

I'd suggest Antigua after race week when many big yachts return to Europe. Get there at the beginning of race week so you can visit the yachts in the morning and late afternoon when the the boats are docked. They will be in Falmouth and English harbour.

 

[Marcool]

Thanks for the good advice everybody!
So it seems North America is a no? Is the flow of sailboats from Halifax to Europe really null? I know they are rough seas I just wonder...
In any case it will probably end up going to Halifax just for the visit, I'll see for myself won't I!
Regards and thanks again for the tips.
Mark.

 

[MankYmura]

When is happenig Antiqua race??
Marcool I have exactly same idea,but I have absolutely no experience with sailing.
I also wonder about big cargo ships,can those big cargo ships take passengers?I dont think so,might as working help??

 

[Marcool]

The race that is being referred to is the ARC, a race that departs Las Palmas in the Canaries and takes participants over the Atlantic to the Antilles. The race destination is Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia, and I imagine participants then mostly head up north to Antigua before starting back either via Bermuda or directly towards Azores or even Portugal / Spain.
You may want to read the suggested links in this thread (on which I will make no comment...) and read this thread also.
Good luck with your trip in any case. As far as cargo ships go, you can read this, and take my personal advice which is : forget it if you're not prepared to pay a lot more than a plane ticket would cost you.
Regards to all,
Mark

 

[KellysEye]

>I also wonder about big cargo ships,can those big cargo ships take passengers?

Some do have cabins, try searching the interenet or call the shipping companies.

 

[Seajet]

Ships & shipping type magazines sometimes carry advertisements for cargo ships which take passengers, some people prefer to travel this way and it seems food & accomodation is usually to a high standard.

It does not seem particularly cheap though, judging by the few ad's and articles I've seen.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Ships & shipping type magazines sometimes carry advertisements for cargo ships which take passengers, some people prefer to travel this way and it seems food & accomodation is usually to a high standard.

It does not seem particularly cheap though, judging by the few ad's and articles I've seen.

It ain't cheap and it ain't quick. I looked at it when I was grounded after DVT. Plus, you don't normally start and finish where you really want to be.

For example...